Scott Stinson: Bianca Andreescu's attempt to make Canadian history, and the legend that stands in her way

NEW YORK • Midway through her semi-final match at the U.S. Open on Thursday night, Bianca Andreescu finished a point, and then yelled at herself.

“Why can’t I play tennis tonight?,” she exhorted, the words bouncing around in the cavernous open spaces of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the 24,000-seat fishbowl. It’s a place where an athlete’s struggles are laid bare for all to see, but the 19-year-old Canadian was leaving no doubt. She was struggling, labouring, unable to hit the shots she needed.

She was also not losing. As much as Andreescu has done a lot of remarkable things in her storybook season, culminating in her appearance in the final on Saturday, the most impressive part might be what has happened over the past week: she has survived while not playing her best. On Monday, she dropped the second set to American Taylor Townsend, and the New York crowd suddenly had a blood-in-the-water vibe. On Wednesday, Elise Mertens took the first set from her routinely, and Andreescu was visibly hot and uncomfortable on a night with humidity so thick you could almost grab it. And on Thursday, she couldn’t find a rhythm against Belinda Bencic, couldn’t put any pressure on her serve and had to expend a lot of energy just to defend her own.

But in each instance, the rookie with little experience to draw on in such situations, and with precisely none of it on stages like the one in New York, fought back. She may have started to unravel, but Andreescu would not allow her opponents to yank the thread.

Bianca Andreescu of Canada (left) after beating Elise Mertens of Belgium in a quarterfinal match on day ten of the 2019 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY

Sports chroniclers tend to over-romanticize the importance of unseen intangibles — to ascribe to heart that which can be more accurately explained by randomness — but it is a plain fact that Andreescu has repeatedly risen to the moment at the U.S Open.

“She never gives up,” Mertens said after her defeat.

“She definitely played the big points,” Bencic said. “She played them better than me.” (Indeed, Bencic had 13 tries to break Andreescu’s serve, and won three of those points. Andreescu converted four of seven such opportunities.)

When it was over, after Andreescu had for the second straight night stood on the Ashe court with her hands on her head, stunned at what she had done, she was asked how she developed such fearlessness.

“I really don’t know how to answer that,” she said. “I think it’s just inside of me somehow. I think it’s just my passion for the game, as well. I don’t like to lose, so I just try my best every match.”

She has said that she meditates most days, practises staying calm. Perhaps that is what makes the difference. That, and a bazooka of a forehand. Oh, and the audacity, the unmitigated gall, to try things like baseline drop shots when a key point teeters in the balance. That all helps.

Serena Williams of the United States speaks with Bianca Andreescu of Canada following her withdrawal from the final match due to a back injury on Day 9 of the Rogers Cup at Aviva Centre on August 11, 2019 in Toronto, Canada.Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

On Saturday, she will face the toughest test in women’s tennis: Serena Williams, 23-time Grand Slam champion, including six titles in New York, the first of them coming before Andreescu was born. (Seriously.)

It’s a rematch of their meeting in the final at the Rogers Cup in Toronto last month, where Williams retired with a back injury after just four games and 15 minutes. Andreescu consoled her, and they hugged, and she told Williams, hilariously, that she “was a (expletive) beast.” She meant it as a compliment, to be clear.

It’s not that moment that the tennis world will be thinking about on Saturday, though. Williams’ 23 Slam titles are the most in tennis’ Open era, and Saturday will be her fourth final since her last such victory. One more and she will tie Margaret Court for most Slams ever, although whether that matters is up for debate given that Court won many of hers against fields full of amateurs, a cross between a garden party and a professional tournament. Williams is also trying to complete the comeback from childbirth, having won the last of her Slams in 2017, while she was still in the early stages of pregnancy. And lastly, she’s trying to wipe away the memory of last year in New York, where she fell apart, emotionally and otherwise, in a finals loss to Naomi Osaka.

Williams already has an absurd resume, but there is little doubt that almost all of the massive crowd will be anxious to see her add one more trophy to her vast collection.

“I don’t know how that’s going to go. But hopefully I can have some Canadians cheering me on,” Andreescu said after her last win, when Thursday had ticked over to Friday. “I remember I heard some during Taylor’s match. For sure, the crowd’s going to be for Serena. I just have to deal with that.”

Thanks to their encounter in Toronto, Andreescu already has a little experience with dealing with the irresistible force that is Serena. She has since said that the whole thing, a Canadian on home soil against an icon, was a little overwhelming.

“Well, I wasn’t 100 per cent, physically,” Andreescu said. “Definitely mentally I was very nervous. I was about to play a champion of this sport in the finals of the Rogers Cup. Obviously, I was nervous.”

But she managed to hold it together. Inner peace and all that. “I think I channelled that nervousness into something else,” she said. “When I stepped on the court, I didn’t really think of who was on the other side. Having those four games against her I think is going to help me on Saturday.”

Those games, quick as they were, provided an opportunity for Andreescu to feel what is like to play Williams. It is an atypical experience. When Wang Qiang was crushed 6-0, 6-1 in the quarters, she came off the court and said she had no hope of handling Williams’ power game.

Andreescu, though, was up 3-1, having taken a service game off the legend, before the injury retirement. There is an old Mike Tyson line about everyone having a plan until they are punched in the mouth. Andreescu has yet to take Williams’ best shot, but she has at least absorbed a couple of jabs.

And yet, it is bound to be a surreal experience, playing in a Grand Slam final against someone who has been a Grand Slam champion for the entirety of Andreescu’s life.

Bianca Andreescu of Canada hugs the winner’s trophy after defeating Serena Williams of the United States during Rogers Cup tennis finals tournament action in Toronto on Sunday, August 11, 2019.Nathan Denette /
The Canadian Press

Asked if she had a specific memory of watching her play, the Canadian teen said: “I remember watching her when I was about 10. I don’t remember a specific moment.” So, Andreescu at about 10 years old would mean around 2010, at which point Williams would have already won a dozen Slam titles. The young Andreescu would have learned that Williams was already one of the best players ever. And now a decade later, with that title no longer in dispute, she is preparing to face her.

It’s such a daunting prospect that the reality of what a win for Andreescu would mean is not entirely front-of-mind. She said this week that she hadn’t given much thought to the significance of becoming the first singles Slam champion in Canadian history, although she allowed that it would be “pretty awesome.”

It’s also not unthinkable: those 23 Slam wins for Serena are next to nine losses in Slam finals.

“I’m sure she’s going to bring her A game,” Andreescu said. “I’m going to try to bring my A game, too. Hopefully, I guess, may the best player win.”

Andreescu has proven that she doesn’t need to bring her best game to win. But against Serena, in a U.S. Open final? It couldn’t hurt.

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